"Hey, Naruto, why are you helping that Uchiha brat"
"Precisely because he bears the name Uchiha, I am helping him."
Naruto had just reached the second floor at home when Kurama's voice rumbled from the seal. Dropping his awareness into the sealing space, he found the fox looking distinctly displeased.
"Hm" Kurama frowned. "What is that supposed to mean"
Standing beside them, Namikaze Minato narrowed his eyes. He looked up at the towering beast and spoke in a low voice. "Naruto, are you planning to make Sasuke awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan, then force open the seal and rip Kurama out of yourself"
"Yes, Father." Naruto met Minato's serious gaze. "Back then that masked man who called himself Uchiha Madara used Mangekyo eyes to tear Kurama out of Mother. The idea came from him."
"Absolutely not"
"I do not agree"
The protest burst from Kurama and Minato in the same breath.
"I can understand Father's reason later, but Kurama, I am doing this to free you. Why are you against it too"
Naruto truly looked curious.
"Uchiha is a cursed clan." Kurama planted its paws and sat up, voice heavy. "Naruto, I can say it clearly. From the very beginning they inherited a power steeped in malice."
Naruto's expression sharpened. The words sounded familiar. He remembered Tobirama had said much the same in the original tale.
"Why do you say they inherited an evil power from the start"
"That is the key." Kurama lowered its gaze and watched him in silence. After a moment it seemed to decide. It raised a clenched paw toward Naruto.
Naruto touched fists with the fox. In the next instant, images flooded his mind. The Sage of Six Paths. His two sons. The ancient history from a thousand years past. The vision held for a long time, ending only with Madara's eye techniques binding Kurama and the battle against Hashirama where he was captured.
Naruto exhaled. The volume was huge, but most of it he already knew. Chin propped on his hand, he asked, thoughtful. "You are worried that Sasuke might end up like Madara and try to control you with Mangekyo"
At the name Uchiha Madara, sparks seemed to jump in Kurama's upturned pupils. "That is one part of it. More important is that the Sharingan is not a human eye to begin with. The power the Uchiha inherit resides in that gaze."
"And that power traces back to the Ten Tails. You just saw what the Ten Tails is. Even the Sage of Six Paths believed his elder son Indra inherited a power tainted by malice and strayed because of it."
Naruto's eyes flickered. The story of Indra and Asura was never that simple. Black Zetsu's scheming and the Sage's fear of his firstborn weighed far heavier on the scale.
"Father, what about you. Why do you object"
He turned to Minato. His father had gotten along with Uchiha Fugaku. Naruto had his own aims in helping Sasuke, but Minato's stance felt unusually firm.
"Because there was an Uchiha in my team," Minato said solemnly. "I studied Lord Second's research on the Sharingan. The Uchiha are dangerously prone to losing control under the eye's power."
"You saw Itachi and Shisui's memories in the Mirror World. The eye awakens only under intense emotional shock. Both awakened Mangekyo after the Great War and after witnessing the death of those dearest to them."
"You also know how that ended. Itachi is the clearest example. Even if you help Sasuke open Mangekyo, you cannot guarantee he will not lose control in the end."
Naruto looked a little surprised. "Father, your outlook has changed a lot lately. I would not expect you to be this negative about me approaching Sasuke."
Minato's face turned distant. "When I was alive I always left room in how I judged people and things. But what you showed me in the Mirror World overturned too much."
"It is a pity, like you said. I am already dead. Knowing more now changes nothing."
Naruto nodded and spoke evenly. "Sasuke is only my second plan. I do have a better option. That path also needs timing."
Minato tensed at once. "Naruto, can you not wait for Jiraiya to return and then find a way to get the key"
Naruto shook his head. "You saw the Third's memories. He has already sent Jiraiya to the Land of Rain to investigate Akatsuki."
"You have seen a piece of Akatsuki's strength. There is the masked man who fought you and used space time ninjutsu, claiming to be Uchiha Madara. There is his former senior Orochimaru. There is Uchiha Itachi with freshly awakened Mangekyo. And above them stands Pain with the Rinnegan of the Sage of Six Paths."
"Do you think Jiraiya can walk into that storm and walk back out"
Minato's face sank. Any one of those names was a nightmare to handle. If Jiraiya went to Ame to gather intelligence, coming back alive was doubtful.
Kurama watched Naruto without speaking for a long time. At last it asked, "Naruto, do you have a contingency prepared for Sasuke"
Naruto's eyes slid to the fox. "I do. Looks like you are quicker on the uptake than Father."
Minato blinked. "What contingency"
Naruto smiled and raised a fist toward Kurama. The fox hesitated, then bumped it. Its eyes flew wide.
"Heh. The plan can work," Kurama rumbled, a spark of excitement breaking through. "But I will still say this. How will you guarantee you survive"
"That will require a separate plan. Truth be told, I still hope Jiraiya swings back to Konoha once before he heads for Rain."
Naruto turned to Minato again. "Father, is there truly no way for me to reach him"
Minato looked embarrassed. He had planned to ask what Naruto whispered to the fox, but the question cut him off. "I am dead. At this point I really have no way."
The next afternoon, last period.
Sasuke did not hear a single word in class. All his focus fixed on Naruto sitting in the back corner.
The bell rang. Dismissal.
Naruto did not move. Sasuke did not move.
When the room finally emptied, Naruto rose and walked out at an unhurried pace. Sasuke stood up at once and followed.
They left the school, one before the other. Sasuke kept a steady five meters behind.
Only after they had walked far from the center of the village did Sasuke break. He jogged ahead and blocked Naruto's path.
"I have learned the technique on the scroll. What are you really after"
Naruto gave him a cool once over. "If you learned it, why are you still this dense"
Sasuke's eyes went cold. "What did you say"
A puff of smoke burst where Naruto stood.
"Shadow Clone"
Sasuke froze. He suddenly felt very stupid.
"You see, Father," Naruto said later in the sealing space, recounting it to Minato with a wry smile. "I told you he was not as sharp as his brother. He learned Shadow Clone, then still dragged himself to class in person. No idea how to use a jutsu properly."
"To be honest, I did not think to use it that way either," Minato admitted with an awkward smile. "So far it is just you and Itachi I have seen do it for class."
Naruto sat on a stone slab. This was the training ground where he had first met the two Uchiha brothers. He had just flashed here, after stopping by one other place.
The warm up for Sasuke.
Sensing Sasuke racing this way, Naruto palmed four kunai.
Before long Sasuke stood before him, chest heaving, eyes locked on Naruto without a word.
"Take these. We are heading somewhere else. Recover your stamina on the way."
Naruto stood from the slab, handed him the kunai, and set off.
Sasuke accepted them in silence and followed. Naruto felt like a riddle he could not put down.
Soon they reached the edge of a cliff. Naruto stopped and spoke in a level tone. "Do you want revenge"
Sasuke's face twisted with fury and hate. "I want it"
Naruto nodded. "Then jump."
Sasuke's pupils shrank. He took a step back. "What did you say"
"If you jump and do not die, I will give you power." Naruto turned fully, eyes meeting his. "Looks to me like you are scared."
Sasuke glared, lips shut, but his feet kept edging backward.
Naruto watched the retreat and laughed softly. "What are you afraid of. When Uchiha Itachi was your age, he jumped from here."
"He did not die. Otherwise how would he have lived long enough to butcher a clan"
Sasuke's gaze hardened. "How can you be sure that ever happened"
The man might be capable of it, but he still did not believe. And how could someone Naruto's age know such a thing.
"Because I can know many things others would rather bury. Including yours."
Naruto slipped his mind into the Mirror World, opened Sasuke's puppet profile, and returned a moment later.
"Last year one night you sat by the low table and asked your father about the Sharingan. That was because before that you had seen Itachi clash with three clansmen, and you saw his Mangekyo for the first time."
Sasuke jolted. His steps fell faster. "How do you know that"
"I already told you." Naruto's voice stayed calm. "And I know the truth of the Uchiha massacre."
Sasuke went taut as a bowstring. "What truth"
"If your Sharingan has not opened, you are not qualified to know." Naruto's tone stayed mild. "And right now you do not even dare try what Itachi once did. Even if you knew, what use would it be"
"I..."
Sasuke's face flickered between light and dark. Inside, something struggled and clawed.
Naruto glanced at him, then fished two more kunai from his pouch. "What a waste. I thought someone with nothing left feared nothing."
"Turns out you are afraid of death."
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